The Ultimate Risk
by Heisenberg1998
Summary: My SAO fiction with a few inaccuracies. Sorry about that. Wrote it purely for fun. If you want to read Guardian's POV /s/10801161/1/Adventures-in-Sword-Art-Online
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: A Brave New World**

"I'm logging on as soon as I get home" said my friend Damion as we walked home with our "friend" David. We had just left school and were talking about the new virtual reality MMORPG that had just come out on the Nerve Gear, a domestic virtual reality helmet. The game is called Sword Art Online, or SAO for short.

"Yeah. Let's meet up at the first town so I can show you guys some things." I said

"I've played other MMORPGs before. I know what to do."

"Oh yeah. That was mostly meant for David anyways."

"Yeah. This will be my first one." He said

"My house is down this way. I'll see you guys in game." With that Damion ran off and David and I continued walking.

"So is there anything I should know before we start this later?" David asked

"Well, the only thing you really need to know is that SAO is different from other MMORPGs because it's a virtual reality game. You just got the Nerve Gear so just remember to plug it into the phone outlet so your Nerve Gear gets enough power. Once you have the helmet on the helmet becomes voice activated at that point. Just say 'Link Start' and the helmet will start up."

"Cool. So it's pretty easy to use then."

"Yep. Here's my place so I'm gonna go. Later." I waved him off and started towards my house. I walked into my house and was greeted by my step-mother at the door.

"Hey. How was school?"

"It was fine. Nothing really new. I'll be upstairs playing that game I told you about."

"Alright but make sure you get your chores done."

"I will." I ran upstairs into my room and closed the door behind me. I slipped on the metal helmet known as the Nerve Gear. I plugged the cable into the outlet next to my bed and layed down. Most people would have to wait for the download process to finish before they can play. I didn't have to because I was a beta tester. I didn't get very far before the test was over. I got to the twelfth floor before I died in game and since there were one hundred floors I didn't get very far although it is farther than most players got. The farthest anyone got was the seventh floor. I made sure I was comfortable and then said the startup command. "Link Start!"

I opened my eyes to a familiar sight. I was in the middle of the Town of Beginnings. It was the town where all new players start when they play SAO. The unfortunate part of being a beta tester is that the company resets all of your information so I lost all of my items and money. Fortunately I know of some awesome spots to get good weapons and money. I decided to stop enjoying the sights and went to find my friends. I remembered their usernames from the ones they said they'd be using at school. I finally found one of my friends.

"Hey Heisenberg." He said

"What's up Guardian?" I replied

"So this is the Town of Beginnings?" I nodded. More people began to appear while we talked. I swiped my right hand down to open the menu. I went to my items and noticed I had a basic sword with me as a starting weapon.

"I wonder where David is?" I said

"Same here."

"Hey Damion, Corey!" Damion and I looked out into the crowd trying to find David who was apparently looking for us.

"Over here by the fountain!" I yelled back. Our friend finally found us.

"Hey guys!"

"Hi." Damion and I both looked up and noticed his username.

"Really?" Damion said.

"What?"

"Your name is Abrielle?" He nodded in response.

"Nice." I said sarcastically. For those of you reading who don't understand, Abrielle is a girl's name.

"So, since Corey's the beta tester here, What should we do first?"

"First off, Don't call me Corey in here. I'm Heisenberg."

"And I'm Guardian." Damion and I had decided before starting that we only use our usernames in game so we can keep our real lives and virtual lives separate.

"Oh, okay. So, Heisenberg, what should we do first?"

"We should head out to the fields and gain experience and maybe pick up some items. That way you guys can learn how the game works."

"It's especially important for you to learn how the game works Abrielle since it's your first RPG." After that we headed out of the town and started towards the field. If you didn't know better you would have thought the scenery was real. I swear that I could feel the cool breeze on my face. It felt good to be back in my element. I looked around to see the boars and wolves roaming around. All just experience waiting to be gained.

"Alright! I'm going to kill a pig!" He drew his starting weapon which was apparently a low level axe. He charged it before I could tell him.

"Abrielle wait!" The boar charged Abrielle and knocked him down. I saw his health bar go down but not by much. Guardian started laughing as Abrielle was holding his stomach from the pain of being knocked down. Of course it wasn't really hurting him. It was just the virtual reality simulating pain.

"Dude. You just got your ass handed to you by a pig."I pointed out.

"Was it that bad?" I nodded mainly because a boar is one of the lowest level monsters in the game.

"Watch me." He drew his sword and the boar charged. Guardian managed to easily move to the side and cut the boar in half as it passed him. I started clapping.

"Nice job Guardian." I saw the pop up message telling him what he won from killing the boar.

"Ten golde and twenty experience points."

"Those were supposed to be mine." Abrielle grumbled.

"Since I killed the pig I got the rewards." Guardian replied.

"And if you had managed to deal it at least some damage you would have gotten some experience." It looked as though our explanation wasn't doing much so Guardian and I just let him be angry. I explained that he can't just swing wildly at a monster to kill it but he seemed to ignore me and started saying he would be better than Guardian and I combined.

"I'm actually getting a bit hungry so how about we log out for a while and start playing after lunch." Guardian suggested.

"Sounds good." I was getting ready to open the window to log out.

"Dude, the logout button is missing." Guardian said.

"What do you mean?" I said while swiping my right hand down to open my menu to see he was right.

"I mean what I said. We can't log out." I looked across the field and saw a player become engulfed in a blue light which meant he was logging out. I decided to keep that to got back up.

"So we can't log out?"

"It's only the first day out of the beta so it's either a bug or the creators want us to stay logged in for the ceremony." I stated. Abrielle became engulfed in different blue light that meant he was teleporting.

"What the-" And then he was gone. About one second later all I could see was a bright blue. I had teleported before so i knew the feeling. When I appeared again I was standing with Guardian and Abrielle in the middle of the Town of Beginnings. It seemed as though all of the players were appearing in the middle of town.

"What is this?" Guardian asked.

"This must be the opening ceremony. Looks like the tutorial is over." Not long after saying that a single red warning sign appeared in the sky and began flashing. After a few flashes the sky was flooded with them. Between the cracks of the signs blood began to flow.

"Why is the sky bleeding?" Abrielle asked. I couldn't answer. This definitely wasn't in the beta. The blood began to pool in the air and formed a large figure in the air.

"Welcome players I am Akihito Kayaba the creator of Sword Art Online and I would like to welcome you to my world. Some of you may have noticed something missing from your menu the logout button, now let me reassure you this is not a defect I repeat this is not a defect. This was how Sword Art Online was meant to be and the only way to get out of this world is to climb through all one hundred floors and defeat the final boss. But, be warned if you die in the game the Nerve Gear will fry your brain in the real world if anyone tries to remove your Nerve Gea then it will fry your brain as well."

I couldn't believe what I just heard. I was stuck in this game. I didn't know what to feel though. Ever since the beta I had longed to be back and to be the best. To be able to spend all of my time in the game but now… now I don't know. Could this actually be happening? Maybe this is all just a joke. It could be possible that some kids just hacked the game and added this stupid joke. Akihito continued.

"Just so you people don't think this is just a joke and take this game seriously, here are the news clips about the 210 people who have already died because of my game. And now, I have a gift for all of you in your inventories." I checked my inventory and saw that there was a small mirror in my inventory. I clicked it and looked into my reflection and saw my avatar. The blue light engulfed me again but when it went away we hadn't moved. I looked over and no longer saw Damion's avatar but instead saw him and instead of Abrielle it was David. People were changing all around me into who they were in real life. I heard Damion say something but I couldn't hear him over the ringing in my ears. "As of this moment there are no ways to revive a player who has died. This is the end of the tutorial. I welcome you once more and remember, play as if your life depends on it because it does."

Akihito disappeared and the sky went back to being a bright blue.

"Oh my god." I said. I knew what needed to happen next so I tried to get Guardian to follow me. When I realized he wasn't going to move without encouragement I grabbed his wrist and dragged him behind me. He finally came to his senses and started to pick up the pace. We stopped not long after leaving the center of town. Guardian still seemed pretty freaked about what had just happened so I did what any other person would. "Guardian, snap out of it!" I then proceeded to slap him across the face. He grabbed his face.

"Thanks. I needed that."

"Any time. Thank me later but right now we need to move." I got out a map and was beginning to map out our route. "We need to get a head start. We need to leave the town and get to the next village."

"What about me?" He walked over to us. He seemed more nervous than Damion or I.

"We need to leave him." I whispered to Guardian. "Not permanently or anything just for right now. Since he's never played an MMO he needs to stay here and level up before advancing."

"Right." He turned towards Abrielle. "We think you should stay here and gain EXP before advancing towards the next town. I hear there's a guy there who will help new players. We will meet you at the fountain in one week. Try to level up before then." Abrielle just nodded and ran off. He almost seemed relieved that he didn't have to leave. Guardian and I started towards the next town. I remembered something that could be helpful.

"Dude, there are some special items up ahead if you wanna make a detour." I knew what the items were and I also knew a bunch of boars and wolves would spawn and try to kill us if we got close to the chest but I decided not to share that with Guardian.

"I'm okay with that."

"The only problem is that we need to get to level ten before we can equip them."

"It's okay. Better to have in now than to need it later." We drew our swords and it wasn't long before the first boar appeared.

"Guardian, boar to the left." He quickly sliced through it. I proceeded to lead him down a hill and towards the tree where the items were kept. "The items are over here." I kneeled down at the try and was baffled to find the chest that held the items was not there now.

"Heisenberg." I could tell that the amount of boars and wolves spawning was making him nervous.

"Just hold them off." I inspected all parts of the tree. I kept inspecting as fast as I could grumbling to myself trying to figure out where the chest might be. I made a quick glance back at Guardian and saw him kill a wolf that had latched onto his arm. His health bar was almost in yellow so i knew I had to hurry. Then it hit me. Maybe they put the items on top of the tree. It seemed like a crazy idea but at the same time it was the most likely place for them at this point. I began climbing ignoring the sounds of battle below me. I got into the tree and managed to find the chest. I opened it and it told me that I got seventy gold and four weapons that I would inspect later. "I got them!" I yelled.

"Well then let's go!" I looked down and saw a wolf on Guardian's leg and his health bar go yellow. I dropped down and managed to land on the wolf's head killing it and proceeded to kill the last two boars. After the battle Guardian was at level three and I was at level two. "Now, let's go see if those items were worth me almost dying."

"Believe me, they are." We finally made it into town and were on our way to an inn so we could rest for the night and prepare to level up tomorrow.

"Should we buy some new equipment?" Guardian asked.

"Not yet. We should wait until we assess what we have."

"Okay so we may get stuff tomorrow?"

"Most likely. I don't wanna be stuck with basic weapons for too long." We finally made it to a tavern and booked two rooms. We went up to Guardian's room and the first thing he did was get onto his bed and stare at the ceiling.

"I'm going to die." Guardian said.

"No you won't. I won't let you."

"I was almost killed by pigs and dogs today."

"First off, those were boars and wolves. Completely different. Second, you'll survive because in this game you are different from the scrawny weakling that gets made fun of at school. You become a hero."

"What about after floor seven? That's as far as you got in the beta."

"We keep training and level up as much as possible. We'll be fine now, let's hurry and decide who gets what weapons." I swiped my right hand and opened my items menu to recite to Guardian the items we got. "We have the Speed Slasher, Dragon Feather Armor, Shadow Blade, Shadow Thieves Cloak, and Grand Ax. Since you did most of the fighting you get first pick."

"Without knowing what they do, I think I'll choose the shadow blade and the shadow thieves cloak."

"Okay then I'll take the speed slasher and the dragon feather armor. We'll save the axe for Abrielle." I sent Guardian his items. "We don't have a level limit to armor so put it on at any time. I'm gonna go now so get some sleep. We'll need you healed up for tomorrow."

"Good. I need some sleep after today." I left and went to my room. I unequipped all of my items and layed down to go to sleep. I didn't manage to sleep. I spent about an hour looking at the ceiling and wondering why this was happening. How could something I love come back to bite me like this? I decided to get up and do something to clear my mind before I tried to sleep again. I left the tavern and proceeded out of the town and tried fighting some monsters to get my level up. I managed to get thirty gold before I leveled up to level three. I went back into the village and talked to an NPC selling weapons. I decided to buy a basic rapier because of it's speed. It wasn't very special but I decided to get a new weapon.

Later that night I got back to my room and decided to see how the new sword felt. While I was at it I decided to try on my new armor. I equipped both and stared at myself in the full body mirror. The armor was very sleek. It raised the speed of it's wearer and so does the rapier. I unequipped both items and laid down. Before I could try to sleep I heard a knock at my door. I got up and answered. Standing at my door was a five foot six teenage girl in basic armor and blond hair with very smooth features.

"Hi. My name is Tori and I saw you training in the field so I was wondering if you could help me level up some."

"What level are you now?"

"Level two." I paused, thinking about if I should help this girl or not.

"Okay I'll help you." Her face lit up and she smiled at me. "But first I need you to tell me something."

"Okay."

"Is Tori your in game name?"

"No, it's Genesis."

"From now on you should only use that. We have about six hours to train before my friend wakes up so let's get started." She stepped aside to let me lead the way. "Is that the only armor you have?" she nodded in response. "Do you have any money?"

"I have about fifty gold." I sighed.

"Fine. We should get you some new armor. What do you have for a weapon?"

"I have a basic sword to kill enemies." I sighed again. This was going to be more of a project than I thought.

"Fine. Let's get you some gear."

We wandered out into the fields. The field was lit up by the full moon. I didn't know if it would be like this every night or if it's just tonight. We both had all of our armor equipped and our swords drawn. While we were in town I convinced her to buy a new sword that would do more damage against enemies. Because she bought the sword she couldn't afford armor so I helped her out.

"I know of a cool quest to get a special item if other players haven't gotten it yet. You think you're up for it?" I asked.

"Sure. If I can get some EXP." I led her through the plains and finally found the quest giver. The giver was just a regular NPC accept it unlocks a quest where you can earn items, money, and experience if you complete the tasks.

"See that NPC?" I asked. She nodded. "Go up to her and unlock the quest." She nervously walked up to the giver and it talked to her. I walked up and got the briefing on the quest. "Now go to your menu and click on quests. It should be there. Just press accept." I did the same in tandem with her. "Now we start our quest."

We started into the cave that lead into the mountain so we could begin the quest. It wasn't very bright so the only thing we had to see with was the light emanating off of my sword. "Be careful battling in here. There's not a lot of room to maneuver so trying to battle in here is harder. The enemies are different here as well. Cave spiders and golems instead of wolves and pigs." I continued down the cave until I saw what I was searching for. There was a light at the end of the tunnel we were walking down. That was the chest that held the item. We got to the entrance of the room and I stopped her.

"What is it?"

"In this room you can't use teleport crystals." Teleport crystals are used to get a player from one place to another without having to walk everywhere. There are some trap rooms that block the use of the crystals known as anti crystal zones.

"So what do we do?"

"I'll go in and kill all the monsters. When it's safe go in and open the chest."

"No. I'm not letting you go in there alone. Plus if I don't fight I can't level up." I sighed in frustration. Not even three in the morning and I'm already putting myself in a life or death situation.

"Fine but if you can help it, don't die." I had never felt as nervous about fighting as I did in the moment when I stepped into that metallic room. I ran towards the chest and got it open as fast as I could. As soon as it the chest opened the room turned red. The walls opened up letting in dozens of golems. "Here!" I equipped the new weapon and threw it at her so she could use it. The sword was especially designed to be used defensively as well as offensively. It was a very large blade about as wide as I was but was reasonably light which seemed odd for it's size. About three quarters of the way down the blade it came back to a sharp point. Both of it's sides were razor sharp to made it deadly against any enemy. She grabbed it out of the air and I drew my rapier slashing nearby golem across his chest. I watched as the red slash appeared on him as he disappeared. I ended up doing that many times, the experience mounting. I leveled up by two after about twenty enemies. I shifted my focus towards Genesis. She was huddled in a corner of the room with her shield/ sword covering her. I heard her yell.

"Heisenberg! Help me please!" I ran over as fast as I could but my reaction was slowed down by two golems blocking my path. I easily mowed them down and sliced through the golem beating down on her sword. Her health bar was in the red so I gave her an elixir to help get her health up. The potion got her health back into the green so I helped her up.

"This is why I told you to stay back."

"I already gained two levels. Despite almost dying it's kind of fun."

"Okay then. Let's level up some more." and then we launched.

I opened my eyes to the beige ceiling of my room at the tavern. I had gotten about an hour and a half of sleep after helping Genesis clear the dungeon and get her money and experience. I was feeling pretty guilty about thee last thing I said to her before I left. I told her not to look for me or approach me when I was with Guardian and Abrielle. I made sure she knew it wasn't because I didn't like her or was embarrassed of her. My only reason was that I didn't want my friends to think I was risking their lives by not sleeping enough and making them carry my weight all because of one girl.

I got out of my bed and headed towards Guardian's room to get him up so we could train. I decided to also hide my current level from him. The only thing he's going to know is that I went out and got a rapier. I got to his room and knocked on his door.

"Guardian, wake up. We have to get moving." I heard a groan so I knocked again. "Come on. We have to start leveling so we can use our items on the boss when the boss battle happens."

"Give me a second."

"I'll be waiting downstairs." I left his door and went to the restaurant part of the tavern and waited for Guardian. I remember wondering how Guardian was handling the situation. Was it changing him? Personally, I felt very conflicted. I knew that I had to leave. I had to get out and help clear all one hundred floors but at the same time I love this game. It's something I know better than anything in the real world so I guess I had to make the decision to either help progress or just stay behind but it looked like Damion made the decision for me. I guess I felt like I owed him for everything he did for me in real life.

Damion was my first friend when I moved to New York in the ninth grade after the state of Virginia said I wasn't allowed to live with my mom any more. He was the first person I told about it and he helped me through it so I feel like I owe it to him to at least help him survive this death game. I heard Guardian come storming down the stairs.

"Dude! When I get to level ten my cloak gives me invisibility!" I just looked at him for a minute. "And you already knew that."

"Yeah. I was waiting for you to figure it out."

"Oh well. I can't use it until I reach level ten. Even then it's only for thirty seconds and I can't do damage while invisible."

"Cool. We can use you for scouting in the field and use you to survey boss rooms without getting hurt." He nodded. "Well, let's get leveling so we can use our new items."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Budding Romance and a Boss Battle**

Over the next month I had met up with Genesis multiple times. We would meet up in the fields and level up. Other times we would just lay down and look at the stars. Even though they were artificial they still managed to look so real. One night in particular stuck out in my mind. We were looking up at the stars and full moon when she started asking me about the particulars of the game.

"Hey Heisenberg." She started. "How come I can't just take the helmet off? I mean, why can't I just pull the helmet off?" I laughed.

"Well, the Nerve Gear uses some kind of special technology to intercept the transmission our brain sends to the rest of our body. For example, If I wanted to move my arm in real life my brain would tell my arm to move. The helmet takes that transmission and sends it to our avatar's body. That way when we play a game we arent wandering around in real life like idiots."

"Well couldn't somebody just unplug the helmet?"

"Wouldn't work. The helmet has an internal battery so it won't shut down. Even if it does work the helmet's safety would turn off. The thing protecting our brains from being fried would stop working so you'd die. Same if somebody pulled the helmet off of your head."

"How do you know all this?"

"I overheard some guys talking about it back on the first day."

"I can't believe it's been almost a month."

"And we still haven't found the first boss." We were both silent for a bit.

"What should we do?"

"I think we just need to keep trying. There are still people hiding in the Town of Beginnings. People who are too afraid of dying to do anything. We have to win for them." She grabbed my hand and squeezed it.

"I don't want to fight on the front lines but I know that if I don't then I'm no better than those people hiding. I don't want to be helpless but I don't want to die."

"I'll help you when I can. I can help you now by helping you level up and be prepared." I turned my head towards her and she smiled at me.

"Have you heard about the marriage system?" She asked

"No. Why?"

"Just curious. It's a system that allows you to share your item storage with another player."

"So what's so special about it." She giggled.

"I guess nothing really. I just think it's cool. I mean, it's like you're really married. You can't hide anything from that other person anymore. You truly share everything."

"I'm not gonna ask you to marry me yet." She got all flustered like she usually did when we'd talk.

"No! That's not why I brought it up! I just… Wait, what did you mean by yet?"

"I like you Genesis but I don't really know anything about you." We both laughed.

"I was just mentioning how cool the system was so if you ever met a girl you wanted to marry in game then you'd know."

"I'll remember that." The rest of that night was dedicated to us just talking and watching the stars. I knew after that night that I liked her. That didn't stop me from hiding her though. I still needed my friends to know that I was dedicated to clearing the game and not just spending time with this random girl. A few weeks later there was a meeting for all the players who wanted to play on the front lines. They had finally found the first boss room. Unfortunately, it wasn't before 2000 people died. By this time Abrielle had leveled up enough to use the grand axe and I had leveled up to the point where I could use my speed slasher but Guardian was only level nine so he couldn't equip his sword or shield yet. He did get a new weapon to use though which was good.

"Guardian! It's time for the meeting on the boss!" I yelled as he slashed down another boar. He ran over and sat in the small arena where the walls curved around to the center of the area where a blue haired man named Diabel stood.

"Okay then. Let's get started My name is Diabel and I have taken on the duty of knight." People began laughing and pointed out that there was no existing job system in the game."We have found the first floor boss room." I sat up and heard the crowd erupt in mumbles. "For this raid we will split into teams. We will have to have teams to take out his minions. On their own the minions are not very strong but there are a lot of them. We also know that he has four health bars and when the last one reaches red he switches his weapon to a sword called a Talwar."

"Hey! I have something to say!" A man with red, spiky hair jumped down from the bleachers and started ranting. "Before we continue I think some of you here need to apologize to the 2000 players who have died already." I gulped predicting what he'd say next.

"Kibao. I assume you're talking about the ex-beta testers?" Asked Diabel

"Yeah! While we were trying to survive all the beta testers were taking the best quests and items for themselves. They're the reason all those people are dead! I say we make them get on their hands and knees and apologize! They should hand over all of their money and-"

"Can I say something?" Asked a man from the crowd. He was a large black man in the front row. The knot in my chest began to form and I felt like I was going to explode from the tension.

"Who are you?" Replied Diabel

"My name is Agil. Now, you're saying that because the beta testers took items and money for themselves the 2000 people died. Did I get that right?"

"Yeah. So what?"

"Do you all remember these information brokers? They were handing them out for free." The crowd mumbled in agreement. I only remembered it because I helped write it. The beta testers decided it would be good to make a game guide for new players. "The beta testers wrote it. All the information was easily accessible for everyone yet people still died. It wasn't anyone's fault." Kibao and Agil sat down and Diabel continued to discuss the boss.

"The first floor boss is named Illfang the Kobold Lord. He has four health bars and when the last one goes into the red he switches to a weapon called a Talwar." I noticed Damion started to zone out so I nudged him and brought him back to reality.

"Guardian!" I whispered harshly.

"What?" He responded.

"Are you paying attention?" He nodded. "You really should pay more attention when it comes to something important like clearing the first floor!"

"Sorry. I'll try to pay more attention." I was going to say that he was going to endanger the battle but that would seem hypocritical of me since I was sleeping about three hours every night for the past month so I could see Genesis.

"Whatever. Let's form our party." I sent Guardian and Abrielle a party request and they both accepted. "Cool. Now let's go get some rest and meet up tomorrow before the boss battle."

"I think I'm actually gonna go and gain one more level."

"How long will it take?"

"Two or three boars."

"Cool. Just be back at the tavern before sundown." He nodded and ran off towards the fields. Abrielle and I started back towards the tavern.

"Heisenberg."

"Yeah?"

"Are you scared about the boss battle?"

"I think everyone is. I won't let my fear stop me from going."

"But why not? It's a death game. We shouldn't have to sacrifice ourselves for people we don't even know." I slapped him and it left a red hand print on his face.

"If you really think that then give me back the grand axe and go back to the Town of Beginnings. Hide there like the rest of the defenseless children hiding in the inn. We don't have any room in this party for doubts or cowardice." He looked at me and got angry.

"What? Because I'm scared I'm not worthy of the front lines? Believe it or not, staying behind wouldn't be easy for me but going into battle would be harder for me!"

"Guess what? It's hard on everyone! You think it's easy for me to jump straight into danger? It's not! Every day has been pretty close to hell for me! It would be easier to stay behind and wait for the game to be cleared but if everyone did that, who would clear the game?" He refused to look at me.

"I'm going back to the Tavern and prepare for the battle later." He left and I decided to take a walk to cool down before heading back. I managed to run into Genesis on my walk and I took her back to my room at the tavern so we could talk privately. The thing about an inn or tavern is when you close a door nobody can hear what's happening inside unless they knock first and the only person who's able to open the door is somebody who purchased the room or someone invited inside. She sat on the bed and I sat in a chair across from her.

"Were you at the boss meeting?" She asked.

"Yeah. You?" She shook her head.

"I couldn't bring myself to do it. I wanted too but I was afraid. I still have to decide if I want to go on this raid. I'm still four levels below you and I don't think I could handle the boss."

"You could ask Diabel to be in the leftover squad. They handle the disposable minions the boss throws at us. No boss contact." She seemed reassured but still nervous. I went and sat next to her. "Listen. I know you're scared but I will protect you. I believe you can do this." Tears began to well up in her eyes and one fell down her face. I wiped it off for her. Jumped pushing me back. She and I were now hugging on the bed.

"Th...Thank you…" I could feel the tears falling onto my shoulder. I pulled her in closer as she sobbed. "I miss the real world! I wanna go back and meet you for real but I can't do that if you or I die today!" She continued to sob but I pushed us up so we were sitting up and I set her so she was sitting on my lap.

"Neither of us die today. If it comes down to it I have friends who will save us." She smiled and kissed me. We stayed like that for what felt like hours but only ended up being two minutes. When her lips left mine she just smiled. Her cheeks glistening from the tears.

"I'm gonna train hard so we both survive. I can't afford to drag you or your friends down." I smiled again.

"You wanna stay here and rest before the boss raid?"

"Sure." We took a three hour nap before we woke up and started talking again. At this point we had two hours left until the boss battle. I told her all of the details. Everything she'd need to fight the boss.

"I'm gonna give you some stuff I found in the field and a healing crystal. If you think it's necessary teleport out. As soon as your health hits fifty percent I want you out of there."

"No. If I'm going I'm seeing it through."

"I wish Abrielle was as brave as you." We laughed. "Get some more rest. We leave in an hour." With that we both slept until it was time to leave.

I showed Genesis who Diabel was and she gave me a last kiss before she went to enlist herself. We still agreed not to tell Guardian and Abrielle who she was. As far as they are concerned she is a random girl fighting with us in the leftovers. I figured that way I could have her back without seeming suspicious. I met up with the guys in the middle of town and we headed towards where all the front line players were meeting. Abrille had decided to go after all. We met up with the group and headed out of town and towards a patch of woods on a path that would lead us to the boss room. I followed Diabel and the group through the woods and up few flights of stairs to large doors that would allow us to fight the boss. Diabel gave a quick pep talk and turned to open the door.

I saw a large red monster with a dog face and very large stomach. This was Illfang. He was maybe six or seven times the size of Agil who was about six foot five. He summoned three minions to his side who were about our size in full armor whose weapon was a mace. We all drew our weapons and charged into the room. I did what our squad was supposed to do. Guardian and I were taking out minions but like an idiot, Abrielle joined with a different squad to charge the boss. Earlier he was talking about not wanting to die but he decided to endanger everyone's lives by charging the boss. I tried to focus on only killing the minions. I saw a minion about to hit Genesis in the back with his mace so I ran over as fast as I could to Genesis's side so I could kill the minion. She turned and saw what I did and winked at me. I smiled back.

I made it back to Guardian's side before he could notice I had left. We set up back to back so we would have a more solid defence. I was moving as fast as I could killing minions with a series of rapid slashes and stabs. After about twenty minutes of fighting I heard the loud clanging of metal on the ground.

"What's happening?" Guardian yelled.

"Illfang's switching his weapon." I replied. I glanced over and saw what was happening. Diabel had ignored his own plan and charged to the front. He was going to try and defeat the boss on his own. "What the hell is he thinking?" I asked myself. Then I realized. He was a beta tester. He must have if he thought he could take down the boss on his own because he knows it's attack patterns. I have to admit, he has some balls doing it. I fought the boss in the beta but even I don't think I could have done what he's doing.

"Watch out! That's not a Talwar! It's an Odachi!" I heard from the crowd. I then realized how bad it really was. For those of you who don't know an Odachi has a longer reach than a Talwar so it will do more damage to a player.

"Oh god." I said. Diabel was about to strike when the Odachi hit him sending him flying. "Why didn't he just stick to the plan?" Just then I heard a loud clang from beside me. I turned and saw Guardian skidding across the ground and sliding to a hault.

"Guardian!" I saw a guy run over to him. "Guardian, are you okay?" Guardian got to his feet and started to stumble but the mysterious man caught him. Groggily Guardian looked at him and nodded. After that he laid Guardian down against the wall and left. I rushed over to him.

"You okay Guardian?" I yelled.

"Yeah. Just a little dazed." I looked at the boss and saw a guy in basic armor and black sword slice the boss in half. The boy landed on the ground out of breath. "Who's that?"

"I don't know his name but I know he's an ex beta tester." Everyone started cheering. It looked like I had leveled up by six during the battle bringing me to level seventeen. I then heard Kibao from among the crowd.

"Stop cheering!" He yelled. "Why… Why did you let Diabel die? You knew what the boss was going to do because you're a beta tester! No, you're worse than a beta tester. You're a god damn cheater!" People began booing and shouting. Then I heard laughing. It was from the beta tester in the center of the room.

"I wish you wouldn't compare me to those noobs. I made it to floors higher than any other player during the beta. I'm better than them."

"He's a beta tester and a cheater! He's a Beater!"

"Yeah. I like that. Call me a Beater." He equipped the bonus item that the person with the final attack bonus gets. The Cloak of Midnight. He walked up the stairs to the door that lead to floor two and left.

"What was that about?" Asked Guardian.

"No clue." It's best for me to hide my opinion for now. I helped up Guardian and saw Abrielle run towards us from the crowd.

"Hey guys! I was so close to finishing the boss!" Guardian turned red with rage.

'You were supposed to stay with us to hold off the minions so that the strike squads could attack the boss goddamnit! What the hell is wrong with you? There was a plan we were supposed to follow and you just ignored it because you wanted to have all the glory!" Guardian was fuming and I was honestly shocked at him. I had never heard an outbreak like that.

"I just wanted to help…" Abrielle responded. A pathetic excuse if you ask me.

"Help? You don't think stopping the minions from killing the powerful players is important?" There was silence for a little while.

"I think you hit your head pretty hard. You're never this angry."

"Why shouldn't I be? Because of him a lot more people could have died! All because he wanted the glory of killing the boss!" I don't know what happened but all of the color drained from his face and began to stumble forward.

"Are you okay Guardian?" I asked. He fell and I caught him but shortly after he passed out.

"What's wrong with him?" Asked Abrielle.

"How should I know? Let's just take him to the Inn on the second floor."

"Why not just warp him back to the Tavern?"

"This way we all get to see the next floor together when he wakes up. you can't warp somewhere unless you go there yourself." I picked him up and we exited through the large door that would lead us to the second level of Sword Art Online.


End file.
